Study & Create

NBC 5/KXAS (WBAP) Television News Collection

About this Collection

UNT Libraries house the complete news archive of NBC 5/KXAS (formerly WBAP), the oldest television news station in Texas. The archive contains historic broadcast footage, scripts, advertisements, still photography and research files dating from 1950 through 2012. Film and video in the archive remain in its original physical format, such as 16mm film and obsolete video formats such as UMATIC tape, making it difficult to view and preserve. Although much of the footage in the archive has not been seen since its original air date, a small pilot project of news footage and scripts from a five week period in 1956 was completed in Fall 2014 to provide a sample of the rich, historical content found in the NBC 5/KXAS Archive, as well as the technological capabilities of UNT Libraries to preserve and make the content available online. We are currently scanning footage on an on-demand basis.

Help us digitize the NBC 5/KXAS Archive

Access to the NBC 5/KXAS Archive is extremely limited due to the fragile condition of the film and video. We need your help to raise the funds necessary to clear, repair, and digitize this important piece of North Texas history. The first phase of the digitization project involves the oldest portion of the archive, all on 16 mm film, dating from 1950-1979. It costs approximately $7,500 to digitize and permanently preserve one month of film. Please consider a tax deductible gift today to assist us in meeting our goal.

Licensing and Rights

NBC 5/KXAS has partnered with UNT to ensure that this collection of historic news footage is available for students, scholars and the general public far into the future. UNT Libraries holds the exclusive right to preserve, reformat, permanently store and present the NBC 5/KXAS collection online. UNT Libraries has also agreed to act as the licensing agent for the broadcast footage. Any questions about licensing footage should be directed to archivesrarebooks@unt.edu.